Heart condition warning

The majority of people with a potentially fatal inherited heart condition are not being diagnosed, a charity has warned.

The British Heart Foundation (BHF) said as many as 85% of people with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) are thought to be undiagnosed.

The condition causes abnormally high levels of cholesterol in a person’s blood, meaning otherwise healthy individuals are at a much greater risk of having a heart attack at a young age.

But if it is caught early, patients can be treated with statins, which can bring a patient’s life expectancy back to that of someone without the condition.